Taylor B :
In Kiko Hermosillo’s fourth grade classroom at Heritage Elementary charter school in Glendale, students played a “Jeopardy”-style game to review a math exercise in rounding. As they worked out problems on individual white boards, Hermosillo asked them how they got their answers. He teased them gently to challenge them to explain in more detail.
This activity is not specific to Arizona’s version of Common Core academic standards, now calledArizona College and Career Ready Standards (AzCCRS)-it’s simply good teaching. Hermosillo says that AzCCRS are “more rigorous and the wording is a little different, but the standards are the same that we’ve been learning for 20 years.”
AzCCRS is the latest version of state education standards. According to the Common Core State Standards website, “Forty-three states, the District of Columbia, four territories and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) have adopted the Common Core State Standards.”
As with anything in education, opinions differ. Standards provide a benchmark for what students need to learn, but some see them as too controlling.
Conservative Republican Diane Douglas, who is running for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, has made stopping implementation of Common Core standards the major component of her platform. Her opponent, Democrat David Garcia, PhD, support Common Core standards.
Heritage officials say that since implementing Common Core standards the school has gone from a D to a B rating. The roll-out of new standards requires time and teacher training, so I was curious to visit a school that has done so successfully.
“Common Core is 80 percent of what state standards used to be,” says Justin Dye, Heritage’s principal for the last three years. The difference is that newer standards are more rigorous and subjects are taught more in depth. Some grade levels actually have fewer standards, but the added depth ensures students will have a better understanding of the material.
Dye and his teachers used Beyond Textbooks, created by the Vail School District in Tucson, to implement the standards. Beyond Textbooks started as a “wiki” (a web application that allows people to add, modify or delete content in collaboration with others) by Vail teachers and administrators who wanted to share and develop effective teaching curricula based on the district’s AzCCRS. They wanted to make sure teachers had the proper materials to teach the standards.
For a per-student fee, Beyond Textbooks now provides thousands of digitized resources-like worksheets, lesson plans and videos that teachers can use to teach the standards for K-12-to other districts in Arizona.
Dye says Beyond Textbooks tells teachers how long a standard takes to teach, what order to teach standards in and provides materials teachers can use for classroom instruction. He says it helps teachers to avoid rushing through standards at the end of the year in preparation for the AIMS (Arizona Instrument for Measuring Standards) test.
“We’re not handcuffing teachers,” says Dye. “We’re not saying you’re a robot and must teach this way.” He stresses that teachers decide how to teach the material.
Dye uses the term “laser-like focus” in his description of how the school was reorganized to make sure teachers are teaching to the standards and have ready access to curriculum materials.
During his three years at Heritage, about half the teaching staff has turned over; but he points out that everyone at the school is committed.
To track progress, students are regularly assessed. Data walls in the teachers’ lounge show graphs to compare test results by classroom. On another wall, red, yellow or green cards for each student indicate whether they need special attention (red), need help in certain areas (yellow) or meet the standards (green). Some students’ recent change from yellow to green cards indicates measurable progress.
In Kiko Hermosillo’s fourth grade classroom at Heritage Elementary charter school in Glendale, students played a “Jeopardy”-style game to review a math exercise in rounding. As they worked out problems on individual white boards, Hermosillo asked them how they got their answers. He teased them gently to challenge them to explain in more detail.
This activity is not specific to Arizona’s version of Common Core academic standards, now calledArizona College and Career Ready Standards (AzCCRS)-it’s simply good teaching. Hermosillo says that AzCCRS are “more rigorous and the wording is a little different, but the standards are the same that we’ve been learning for 20 years.”
AzCCRS is the latest version of state education standards. According to the Common Core State Standards website, “Forty-three states, the District of Columbia, four territories and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) have adopted the Common Core State Standards.”
As with anything in education, opinions differ. Standards provide a benchmark for what students need to learn, but some see them as too controlling.
Conservative Republican Diane Douglas, who is running for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, has made stopping implementation of Common Core standards the major component of her platform. Her opponent, Democrat David Garcia, PhD, support Common Core standards.
Heritage officials say that since implementing Common Core standards the school has gone from a D to a B rating. The roll-out of new standards requires time and teacher training, so I was curious to visit a school that has done so successfully.
“Common Core is 80 percent of what state standards used to be,” says Justin Dye, Heritage’s principal for the last three years. The difference is that newer standards are more rigorous and subjects are taught more in depth. Some grade levels actually have fewer standards, but the added depth ensures students will have a better understanding of the material.
Dye and his teachers used Beyond Textbooks, created by the Vail School District in Tucson, to implement the standards. Beyond Textbooks started as a “wiki” (a web application that allows people to add, modify or delete content in collaboration with others) by Vail teachers and administrators who wanted to share and develop effective teaching curricula based on the district’s AzCCRS. They wanted to make sure teachers had the proper materials to teach the standards.
For a per-student fee, Beyond Textbooks now provides thousands of digitized resources-like worksheets, lesson plans and videos that teachers can use to teach the standards for K-12-to other districts in Arizona.
Dye says Beyond Textbooks tells teachers how long a standard takes to teach, what order to teach standards in and provides materials teachers can use for classroom instruction. He says it helps teachers to avoid rushing through standards at the end of the year in preparation for the AIMS (Arizona Instrument for Measuring Standards) test.
“We’re not handcuffing teachers,” says Dye. “We’re not saying you’re a robot and must teach this way.” He stresses that teachers decide how to teach the material.
Dye uses the term “laser-like focus” in his description of how the school was reorganized to make sure teachers are teaching to the standards and have ready access to curriculum materials.
During his three years at Heritage, about half the teaching staff has turned over; but he points out that everyone at the school is committed.
To track progress, students are regularly assessed. Data walls in the teachers’ lounge show graphs to compare test results by classroom. On another wall, red, yellow or green cards for each student indicate whether they need special attention (red), need help in certain areas (yellow) or meet the standards (green). Some students’ recent change from yellow to green cards indicates measurable progress.
